Biobank is a type of library of biological material that allows investigating the origin of diseases, their evolution and factors that contribute to the success of treatment. Research with this support, especially in Oncology, allows for a more specific assessment of cancer, contributing to research related to more effective diagnosis and treatment.
This is a major advance as investigations begin with material collected in the biobank with longer follow-up time and it is possible to evaluate DNA, microRNA, metabolites and other potential biomarkers from blood and tissue samples from women with breast and ovarian cancer. , for example. This is what the Oncology Division of the Women's Hospital - Caism has been doing by making its biobank available to researchers. With this, the hospital has achieved significant advances, putting cutting-edge research at the service of women, reveals professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) and doctor at Caism Sophie Derchain.
One of the researchers' objectives is to detect markers of resistance to neoadjuvant treatment and antineoplastic drugs such as doxorubicin and taxol. Some studies involve the use of blood from women before and after chemotherapy or neoadjuvant hormone therapy (systemic treatment prior to surgical treatment or radiation). Others use fresh frozen, paraffin-embedded tissue.
Several postgraduate studies have been developed at the Caism Biobank at Unicamp, in the line of research into biological markers to identify the response to treatment in women with breast cancer. Luciana Rezende studies microRNAs that can be markers of chemoresistance to identify women who have not responded well to chemotherapy drugs, but who are good candidates for a better treatment strategy. Marcella Cardoso performs metabolomic analyzes on serum and tissues from cancer patients. They may uncover the reprogramming of metabolic pathways involved in resistance to chemotherapy.
Andreia de Melo Porcari evaluates the metabolic profile of breast cancer cells. Raquel Peres, advisor to Professor Luís Sarian, superintendent of Caism and coordinator of the biobank, is currently comparing genetic characteristics in the blood and tissue of American and Brazilian women with breast cancer, looking for differences in the evolution and response to treatment in each country.
These studies, comments Sophie, seek to identify, among women with breast cancer, which will benefit from already standardized treatment and which, if they do not respond to treatment, will be able to access new drugs or new chemotherapy regimens. Along these lines, the group published an article in the magazine Scientific Reports on the expression of microRNAs in cell culture. Another publication was made at the beginning of the year in the International Journal of Molecular Science – a review of metabolomics.
In addition to research on breast cancer, the group studies ovarian cancer. Amanda Ferracini and Guilherme Aires, under the guidance of Priscila Mazzola and Sophie, in partnership with Carmen Silvia Passos, look for polymorphisms related to drug resistance in the patients' blood. Guilherme Ayres evaluates response to chemotherapy, toxicity and survival in women with ovarian carcinoma. Amanda Canato Ferracini analyzes polymorphisms also associated with response to chemotherapy and toxicity. All of these projects are financed by Fapesp.
Contributions
A patient with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy before surgery currently has a 15% to 45% chance of having a complete pathological response, eliminating the disease in the breast and armpit. In the long term, this prognosis translates into minor surgeries and increased survival.
According to Sophie, currently women with breast cancer can undergo different treatments to reduce the size of the tumor before surgery, such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy (treatment acts directly on targets related to tumor growth, for example) or hormone therapy (treatment which suppresses hormones to prevent tumor growth). In all these areas, research is advancing thanks to new drugs and new regimens using better-known drugs for cancers that were previously treated in other ways. Triple-negative breast cancer, usually treated with doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and taxol, is now also treated with carboplatin.
The contribution of the biobank, in this case, is to store material from women who undergo hormone therapy so that, if new information arises in terms of future treatment, the material already stored can be used. If a microRNA or metabolite capable of showing whether a woman, when undergoing chemotherapy, will have an excellent response is identified, it is possible to know in advance whether the side effects of chemotherapy will justify carrying out the procedure. On the other hand, for patients who do not respond to treatment, those who are chemoresistant, one way is to look for new drugs to obtain a complete pathological response.
biobank
Pathologist Geisi Russano, responsible for the Caism Pathology Laboratory, headquarters of the Biobank, explains that the evaluated tissues are stored there for an indefinite period of time. This is a collection of blood and tissue samples frozen at -80º C that is managed by software that connects researchers working in the biobank. This way, these professionals can know exactly what happened to a particular patient. With her consent, biological material can be collected and the study can continue without her presence.
Currently, Caism has 10.630 samples stored, including blood and tissue. In the Oncology area alone, there are 848 tissue samples from patients. Most of these patients have stored blood, which amounts to a total of 8.038 samples. “When I talk about frozen tissue, I'm referring to breast tissue and the placenta, as the biobank also includes research in the area of Obstetrics", informs Geisi. “Soon, we will also have ovarian samples.”
The Caism Biobank is Unicamp's first biobank approved by the National Research Ethics Commission (Conep). The Faculty of Dentistry of Piracicaba (FOP), at Unicamp, also has a biobank accredited by Conep. The first biobank in the State is that of the "AC Camargo" Cancer Hospital.
Read the text published below Journal of Unicamp, explaining the work carried out by researchers in the field of Obstetrics, another front that brings together several investigations at the Caism Biobank.
